So I finally watched this film just out of obligation as a fan of the original series, EoE and.......it was fine.
It felt like an actual end to the franchise unlike the previous 2 endings which were left vague. The movie is far from perfect, nowhere near EoE.
I liked the first half in the village a lot more, Shinji's friends becoming adults, moving past their adolescent issues and taking responsibilities was a good contrast to Shinji's and by stretch the mindset of Rei and even Asuka at the beginning of the movie. Rei clone finding a purpose, asking Shinji to give her a name and ultimately being the one to bring Shinji back from his never ending self hate was great to see. I even chocked up when Rei clone died saying thanks to Shinji. Although Anno got a bit too obvious in certain scenes throughout the movie like Hikari reading Rei clone's goodbye letter out loud, Shinji's conversation with Misato before entering the robot for the final time. It was a bit too much on the nose. Also Shinji understanding why Asuka was so angry at him and both of them confessing to one another that they indeed loved one another was great, especially in case of Shinji who says that while being in the final scene of EoE. Shinji's confrontation with Gendo was great, it gave a closure to their difficult relationship in the best way possible, giving Gendo the much needed development, Yui pushing Shinji away, sacrificing herself and Gendo to rid the world of angels and eva was great. The scene of all the failed evas turning into humans/living creatures while falling was great. Also it felt like Anno didn't want to leave anything unresolved so we finally saw Shinji saying goodbye to Asuka, Rei and Kaworu, heck Anno even added some stuff from the EVA manga for Kaworu and Kaji.
The most important thing for me was that Mari finally reaching out to Shinji while he is about to fade away from an actual animated panel to rough frames felt earned. It actually felt that Shinji had finally grown up and was able to face the world with its pain and suffering. Although I wish we had gotten some development for Mari rather that her being a flat character throughout and a mary sue pretty much.
Nothing can come close to EoE and its impact on me, even Anno can't replicate that and I think he knows that. But he also wasn't looking for that I guess.
All in all it wasn't an ending I was looking for but an ending with which Anno put the franchise, the original story at least to rest. Giving all the main characters the best endings possible. I could feel the difference in the man who created the series, EoE 20+ years ago and the one who made this one. It felt honest and that I think is the biggest compliment any movie can get.
Yeah, the Rebuilds were pretty good for what they were. Though, I did wish the character stories were given a little more love. As it stands, they kinda glossed over them in broad strokes, doesn't feel fitting for a finale of a franchise. That being said, there's a lot of points the movie makes that doesn't come up in the other endings.
I think EoE showed the characters at their lowest, but I felt that the movie made important points on who the characters truly can be if given room to grow.
I'm more than surprised, though, that they bothered to acknowledge that Asuka and Rei had feelings for Shinji, and that they even got to express those feelings.
Kinda nice to see someone not complaining about Asuken for once.
Adrian Williams
You're not gonna get anything here, it's nighttime
Adam Price
>Also Shinji understanding why Asuka was so angry at him He's not her boyfriend, you said as if he owned her something when it was Asuka being unreasonable
Isaiah Harris
Nighttime is when that really autistic shitposter shows up.
Easton Fisher
Neon Genesis Evangelephant
Grayson Rodriguez
I mean he was able to understand her to a degree, rather than just expecting something from her as we see in EoE.
She wanted Shinji to acknowledge her at all; she just wanted an apology at the very least, but Shinji was so far gone in an ocean of self-pity that he couldn't even muster that. She didn't need him to bend over backwards for her, she just wanted him to admit he hurt her.
That being said, Shinji was able to exceed her expectations and show a degree of self-awareness as well.
It's a shame their scene is so brief, they could've done so much more in the character side of things, but I guess they didn't have that kind of time.
>It's a shame their scene is so brief, they could've done so much more This, I wish we had 20-30 more minutes of characters just talking in the village settings.
John Jackson
It's a real shame people see the endings for the characters as negative, when really this is probably one of the best send-offs they've gotten yet.
Joshua Gutierrez
>That being said, Shinji was able to exceed her expectations and show a degree of self-awareness as well. >self-awareness Ironic coming from Asuka of all people
Oliver Barnes
I don't even think it needs to be in the village. The Wunder also could work as a backdrop, substituting the calm serenity of the village for a more pensive, serious atmosphere for more serious conversations. Like a transition from "I'm gonna get back up" to "here's what I'm gonna do" type of mindset.
Really, anything character driven would've been better than the action shlock we got. Not that it was bad, it's just that it stopped the interesting character development and pretty much sidelined it to the end.
I know they tried to get us to care about WILLE by setting the stakes, but I don't think I'm alone in saying most of the audience pretty much tuned that bit out.
I feel like WILLE'S plight could've hit the emotional chords it was aiming for better had they bothered to integrate Shinji within WILLE'S ranks rather than have him exist as something of an outsider and discarded in a room till the end. Show the WILLE guys being human from Shinji's perspective, drawing a parallel to how Shinji got to get closer to the villagers and understand them. By getting Shinji to care, I think it'd go far in making the audience care too. As it stands, they're faceless fodder with faces, which I don't think they were intended as, given the attention to detail in their designs and personalities.
I honestly didn't care about WILLE except for Asuka and Misato a bit. They were just a medium for Shinji and Gendo to have a much needed confrontation. As far as that is concerned, they did a decent job.
Elijah Bennett
Up
Nolan Roberts
I found the theme song to be offputting though, One Last Kiss had nothing to do with the story compared to Sakura Nagashi.
Ian Foster
Why do people try and make Kaworu out to be some charming romantic when he actually just comes off as a creepy weirdo? Doubly so in the manga.
Ayden Harris
Song was alright, the " I will love you more than you will ever know" probably refers to the feelings of those around Shinji for him. But yeah Beautiful world and Sakura Nagashi are far better.
Landon Cooper
It fits perfectly. Shinji found love in the end, and can live a riajuu life as represented by the bubble gum pop music outro.
Landon Sullivan
Yeah, I felt the song was something more geared towards a romance type story rather than EVA. Only way I think it would fit if it's representative of the movie itself being "one last kiss" with Evangelion.
It's still a banger though, wish they didn't just end it on a pan out; I'd rather it was a montage of the pilots doing stuff in the new world and then have them all meet up at the end on a beach like in the poster.
Is Asuka's stepmother the doctor who her father was having an affair with?
Cameron Ramirez
Something like that. Probably.
Hudson Kelly
Irrelevant since shes a clone, her memories are artificial
Nathan Torres
Yes, they have the same VA. I always assumed that Asuka's mother killed herself when she did either because she found out that her husband was cheating on her or that he came clean and was announced that he was leaving her.
Aaron Sullivan
Consider the fanbase. Is there a group of people defined by having no personal boundaries and by being sexually aggressive towards strangers in public? And am I, by any chance, talking about faggots?
William Reed
I remember when people thought Mari was Asuka's stepsister.
>Shinji's ultimate fantasy is just to be able to have a normal childhood with a stable family life and to be friends with a non-mentally ill Asuka and non-autism spectrum Rei
I find this more depressing than anything in EoE. Poor little shit.
Caleb Fisher
Am I the only one seeing a bioethical thing going on here? Making an adult(ish) clone is already dubious, that person is never going to have parents or a childhood. And what sort of memories are being programmed into the clone over here? You've given someone the experience of being killed and rejected by their parent. And you've programmed that person to become a dominatrix and a whore once she's in a relationship. All in front of the eyes of the original person, who you have cyborged against her will and who is aware that this has been going on for a while. There is a ton of fridge horror here, from plot holes and from writers not being aware of what they're really doing. And it would make for an excellent movie. I'd watch a nihei or junji ito rebuild focusing on these things and taking them at face value.
>even in his perfect fantasy life gendo doesn't talk to him
Connor Reed
Mediocrity is a special sort of evil. Yeah but I still think the movie that's happening between the lines and right there in everyone's faces is much more interesting than what's happening on screen. This is exactly how you write existential horror. And Anno and the writing team had it but didn't know they have it. Like a native finding a working phone by the river and throwing it back.
Ian Richardson
Did Shinji, Rei and Asuka only become as popular and endearing with people as they did specifically because they're so flawed and broken? Like obviously they're visually attractive so the coombrains and fujos are locked down, but the way people talk about them even today it's almost like there's an almost parental element there.
Isn't that kind of the point of Evangelion's prominence? Anime was stagnating at the time with trite plots and cliched characters whereas Eva introduced a cast of fleshed out characters that somewhat resembled real people with internal struggle and poor coping mechanisms.
Caleb Sanders
It could be a psychological thing. The presentation is a little bit deceptive and manipulative, like the characters are addressing the audience directly. Asuka is the biggest offender here, she's got a bit of a POV thing that you notice as an adult but don't notice as a kid.
Austin Morris
>fleshed out characters Diebuster did it before Evangelion
Kevin Parker
You meant Gunbuster and coincidentally, or not, it was also directed by Anno
Brody Howard
Zeta Gundam and CCA did it before Diebuster.
Jose Martin
It's fucking magic, right?
Christopher Edwards
>have characters show emotion and struggle to keep it together >become critically acclaimed anime series The utter state of Japan. Honne/Tatemae must suck for all of them.
Hunter Jenkins
>t felt like an actual end to the franchise unlike the previous 2 endings which were left vague.
You do realize all the events of EoE still happened, right? Rebuilds are sequels, peanut brain.
Noah Stewart
People relate to things they see inside of them. It's what makes any character popular, not just in Evangelion
Nathaniel Thompson
She's only a clone in Rebuild. Pretty sure she's normal in the original.
Joseph Cook
How can anyone feel anything or get any kind of satisfaction from the rebuilds when the characters are so neutered compared to their real selves? The rebuilds just suck
He's supposed to be written as the "ethereal dashing prince* type you find in shojuo manga. The likes of which sweep the heroine off her feet and whatever. It's pretty obvious from the character design and the way he speaks
Owen Watson
They're still the same characters, but in a very different situation than what we've seen. They're more generalized versions of themselves, but that doesn't stop them from still being the characters we know and lobe.
I think that it sort of still resonates with people that when they're truly stripped bare, they're scared kids who above all just want reciprocated love from someone with no ulterior motives. Shinji shows it in his fantasy world, which as the other user says is just a normal family and social life. Asuka echoes it in her meltdown when she says that for all her achievements, no one ever really cared about her as a person and is still upset that Shinji didn't hug her when they kissed. Rei never really articulates it explicitly but is in the process of gradually getting a bit better with people over the series and is starting to somewhat enjoy social interactions, later culminating with her conceding during her telepathic conversation with the angel that she's terrified of loneliness
Nathaniel Howard
I don't have a problem with shitty character writing. I have a problem with Anno suggesting the viewers should do what Makima did and what the Scarlet Witch did, construct a fantasy, create an illusion of control and demand that other people conform to your narrative. Cause if you get to pick and choose a planet, you're going to pick the one where you have control, not the one where you can get hurt, right?
Angel Ramirez
they are literally not the same they are completely sanitized and stripped of all nuance or complexity everything about the rebuilds are half baked and I seriously question if any post saying they got any real meaning from watching them were paid to say it I don't understand how you can have working eyes and ears and watch the rebuilds and see them as anything but shit cash grabs they're not even good as pure fanservice
Wyatt Hernandez
because the music told them to, 99% of viewers will never engage with a film beyond that
Jonathan Thompson
I wanna hear Asuka scream this into my face.
Nathaniel Richardson
Isn't Rebuild Asuka literally a clone? The one I watched from NGE/EoE was a human, her mother was inside her red EVA etc.
Bentley Perez
Do I even bother with the Rebuilds or do I just pretend the IP ended with EoE?
Grayson Lopez
You could try the manga.
Blake Rogers
Just pretend that you watched the last one like I do since it's the only one that's relevant.
